Corn was lower on technical and fund selling, in addition to the lower beans and crude oil. Corn’s fundamentals remain negative with a large supply, some uptick in ethanol use and fairly slack export demand. South Korea bought 116,000 tons of 2009/10 corn which was considered routine. Losses were limited by continued concerns over early planting delays ahead of March 31’s USDA prospective plantings report. Additionally, most contracts have managed to hold above last month’s lows. Ethanol futures were lower. Malaysia bought 60,000 tons of South American corn at $225 per ton.

The wheat complex was higher on short covering, technical buying and the lower dollar. When the dollar goes down, it lowers the price of U.S. goods on the export market. However, U.S. wheat is more expensive than wheat from competing exporters and the available world supply is large. In any event, fundamentals may be negative, but traders continue to hold a very large net short position, potentially setting the stage for more sideways movement. Minneapolis had additional support from concerns over hard red spring planting delays. European wheat was mixed, mostly firm, in consolidation trade; May Paris was up .4% and May London was .8% higher.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle contracts closed 20 to 127 points higher on the stronger cash cattle market. Additional support to the front months came from spreading into April and June out of the back months. April settled 1.27 higher at 95.10, and June was up .85 at 92.80.

Feeder cattle ended the session 70 to 155 points higher on the support from the strong action in the live pit. Additional support came from the lack of direction in the corn futures market. March settled 1.07 higher at 103.00, and April was up .87 at 105.97.

Feeder cattle receipts at Missouri auctions this week totaled 41,441 head. Compared to last week feeder steers and heifers found the majority of the sales steady, with trends at some auctions showing certain weights and cattle of classes several dollars higher to several dollars lower. Demand was good on a moderate supply. Feeder steers medium and large 1; 1385 head averaging 621 pounds traded at 111.95 per hundredweight, 1207 heifers weighing 623 lbs averaged 100.28.

Barrows and gilts in the Iowa/Minnesota direct trade closed 1.23 lower at 70.34 on a carcass basis, the West was down 1.20 at 70.45, and the East was 1.04 higher at 70.74. The Missouri direct base carcass meat price closed steady from 64.00 to 67.00 on the barrows and gilts. The weekly hog slaughter is estimated at 2,132,000 head, 31,000 less than last week and 20,000 less than last year. Saturday kill plans had been forecast to be around 30,000 head, but came in much higher than that at 84,000. Russia made it official on Thursday by relisting eleven U.S. pork plants for exports.

Lean hogs settled 5 to 77 points higher. Fund buying was noted as after April and June moved through ten day moving average resistance levels.  April settled at 72.65 up .77, The June contract hit a high of 81.50 before settling at 60 higher at 80.80. Pork trading was moderate with light to moderate demand and offerings. Pork carcass cutout value was .28 lower at 73.83.

Most pork belly months were unquoted and May ended .45 lower at 92.05.

Corn was very narrowly mixed on consolidation and late short covering. Contracts were lower early, continuing to absorb Wednesday’s USDA supply, demand and production numbers along with smaller than expected weekly export sales. Late support came from that short covering and continued concerns over wet weather delaying planting in some areas of the Cornbelt. Also, May managed to hold on above February’s low and additional support came from traders correcting corn and soybean spreads, buying corn and selling beans. In any event, fundamentals remain negative. Ethanol futures were lower. The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange left its Argentine corn production estimate unchanged at 20.2 million tons with 11.5% of the crop harvested.

The wheat complex was lower on technical and fund selling, along with spillover from beans. Fundamentals are extremely negative with a large world supply and poor demand for U.S. wheat, pushing wheat to new five month and contract lows. However, the dollar was down and contracts are technically oversold, which kept wheat from dropping too hard too fast. European wheat was modestly lower on follow through selling and the negative fundamentals; May Paris was down .8% and May London was 1% lower. The United Kingdom’s Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs expects U.K. planted wheat area to be up 11.4% from 2009 and Kazakhstan’s Ag Ministry is projecting a 3% increase in planted area for grains. Japan bought 85,000 tons of U.S. wheat, 42,000 tons from Australia and 25,000 tons from Canada, and Tunisia picked up 25,000 tons of soft milling wheat and 25,000 tons of durum from an unnamed seller.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle contracts settled 32 points higher to 30 lower.  Front months were supported by longs rolling into June and August out of April. There were some spreaders that bought August and sold June. Uncertainty over the direction of this week’s feedlot trade weighed on the market. April settled .05 lower at 93.82, and June was .22 higher at 91.95.

Feeder cattle contracts ended the session, mostly 7 to 62 points higher with only spot March lower. Spreading out of the deferred months into March was the main feature. DTN’s Rick Kment says, traders remain unimpressed with the up and down nature of the market over the last couple of days and for the most part remained on the sidelines until late in the session.  March was down .07 at 101.92, and April was up .07 at 105.10.

Feeder cattle receipts at the Bassett, NE Livestock Auction totaled 2650 head on Wednesday. Compared with two weeks ago steers and heifers trended steady. Demand was good and trading was active. Feeder steers medium and large 1; 454 head averaging 568 lbs traded at 125.31 per hundredweight. 126 heifers weighing 583 lbs brought 107.49.

Barrows in the Iowa/Minnesota direct trade closed 2.81 lower on a carcass basis, the West was down 2.42 at 71.66, and the East was down .26 at 69.70. Missouri direct base carcass meat price closed steady to 1.00 lower from 64.00 to 67.00.Thursday’s hog kill was estimated at 414,000 head, 11,000 less than last week, and down 1,000 from last year. Saturday’s slaughter is only expected to be around 30,000 head, but Tyson’s plans were still undecided. Iowa barrows and gilts last week averaged 269.3 pounds, .1 pound lighter than the previous week, and .8 pounds larger than 2009, and 1.3 pounds heavier than the three year average.

Lean hogs settled 15 to 80 points lower on Negative fundamentals. Cash hog prices were sharply lower at midday in the direct trade. There was rolling by longs out of April into June. April settled .67 lower at 71.87, and June was down .45 at 80.20. The pork trade was slow, with light to moderate demand and offerings. The pork carcass cutout value was up .16 at 74.11.

 May pork bellies closed lower on the decline in the lean pit. Most contracts were not traded.  May finished the session .50 points lower at 92.50.

Corn was lower on fund and technical selling following USDA’s supply and demand update. USDA lowered 2009 production slightly while raising domestic ending stocks to nearly 1.8 billion bushels on slack demand. USDA also increased world ending stocks and production and Alan Brugler of Brugler Marketing points out the U.S. production cut was smaller than expected. There was additional pressure from traders buying beans while selling corn. Losses were limited by the bounce in beans, late higher move for crude oil and short covering. Ethanol futures were pretty much unchanged. Weekly corn exports are estimated at 475,000 to 950,000 tons.

The wheat complex was lower on technical and fund selling, in addition to the higher dollar. USDA’s supply and demand numbers pretty much confirmed wheat’s negative fundamentals. USDA raised U.S. ending stocks to more than a billion bushels for the first time in over 20 years and increased the world supply estimate. European wheat was lower on the negative fundamentals; May Paris was flat and May London was down .4%. Egypt bought 120,000 tons of wheat (60,000 tons from France at $164.55 per ton and 60,000 tons from Russia at $168.55 per ton). Weekly wheat sales are expected to be between 200,000 to 500,000 tons.

Feeder contracts ended the day 35 to 122 points lower pressured by the lower live cattle contracts. The lower corn prices and expectations of increased supplies in the future limited the buyer interest in the feeder cattle futures. March finished at 102.00 down .35, and April was 1.00 lower at 105.00.

Feeder cattle receipts at the Ozarks Regional Stockyards at West Plains, MO totaled 3631 head on Tuesday. Compared to last week, steers weighing less than 700 pounds were steady to 2.00 higher, over 700 lbs steady to weak. Heifers’ weighing less than 700 lbs 2.00 to 3.00 higher, over 700 lbs steady to 1.00 lower. Feeder steers medium and large 1 and 1-2 weighing 500 to 600 pounds traded from 104.00 to 125.00, 7 to 8 weights from 93.50 to 103.00. Feeder heifers weighing 500 to 600 pounds brought 94.00 to 112.00 and 7 to 8 weights from 88.00 to 95.00 per hundredweight.

Cattle buyers and feedlot operators are having a tough time negotiating price this week. Buyers did not renew their bids from yesterday. No bids were reported in the South where asking prices remain around 94.00. There were a few bids in Iowa/Minnesota and Nebraska at 143.00 to 144.00 and asking prices there have been lowered from 150.00 to 148.00 plus. The Wednesday kill was estimated at 120,000 head, even with last week, but 4,000 below last year. Boxed beef cutout values were generally steady on light to moderate demand and offerings. Choice was down .02 at 149.49 and select was up .18 at 149.20.

Barrows and gilts in the Iowa/Minnesota direct trade closed .44 lower at 73.39 on a carcass basis, the West was down .02 at 73.30, and the East is .52 lower at 69.81.Missouri direct base carcass meat prices closed steady from 65.00 to 67.00. Wednesday’s hog slaughter was estimated at 415,000 head, down 12,000 from last week and last year. The spread between carcass value and the weighted average carcass price is less than $2.00 implying the worst processing margins seen in the last month. Yet country numbers remain too tight for hog buyers to wrench any leverage away from the producers.

 Lean hogs were able to keep their heads above water and settled 12 to 27 higher with just a couple of back months in the red. There was some profit taking earlier in the session. Markets are still so far above support levels, that traders are looking for profit taking opportunities while the tone of the market remains strong according to DTN. April settled .15 higher at 72.55, and May was up .12 at 78.05. Pork trading was slow, with mostly light demand and mostly moderate offerings. Pork carcass cutout value was down .67 at 73.95.

Pork bellies were lightly traded. May ended slightly higher on short covering and the bullish weekly storage numbers. May settled .12 higher at 93.00.

Feeder cattle were mostly lower on profit taking, spreading and contracts’ premium to the cash index. March was down $.17 at $102.35 and April was up $.02 at $106.02.

Direct cash cattle markets were quiet with widespread business not expected until Thursday or Friday. Asking prices are around $94 in the South and $148 + North with bids at $90 to $91 on the live basis in Texas and Kansas. Boxed beef was firm on light to moderate demand and offerings with Choice up $.21 at $149.50 and Select $.91 higher at $149.02. Tuesday’s cattle slaughter was estimated at 123,000 head, up 3,000 from a week ago and steady with a year ago.

Hogs were lower on the mostly steady to lower cash, Monday’s lower cutout and most contracts premium to cash. Technical weakness and spreading out of the April contract into June were additional features. Both April and June traded below the 10-day moving average. April was down $.40 at $72.40 and May was $.87 lower at $77.92.

Bellies were higher in light trade on spreading, solid demand and oversold signals. March was up $.50 at $93 and May was $.77 higher at $92.80.

Cash hogs were mixed with influences from both good packer demand and questions over wholesale demand. The Eastern Cornbelt was down $.54 with a weighted average of $70.33, the Western Belt was up $.24 at $73.75 and Iowa/Southern Minnesota was $.32 higher at $73.86. Butcher hogs at the terminals were mostly steady to $2 lower with an instance of $1 higher and tops at $46 to $53. Missouri Direct butcher trade was steady at $65 to $67. The pork carcass cutout value was down for the third day in a row, $.12 lower at $74.60 in slow to moderate trade with mostly light demand and light to moderate offerings. The estimated hog slaughter of 402,000 head was down 30,000 from last week and 16,000 less than last year. Monday’s kill was revised down 5,000 head to 409,000.